Sony has taken the PlayStation 3 through many revisions and price drops …

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The pricing of the PlayStation 3 in Europe has always been a sensitive subject. Europe has always paid more for the system, and when SCEE President David Reeves said a price drop could "annoy" consumers it didn't help to generate any good will. Now Europe will be getting the lower-priced 40GB hardware, sans backwards compatibility, so won't consumers still be annoyed? Gamesindustry asked this question to UK Managing Director Ray Maguire, and the answer? Of course they will.

"I think it's natural to feel that way, of course it is," he said about early buyers of the system at the original price. "The difference between our industry and many other industries is that if you're selling cars or houses the price goes up steadily. Consumer electronics only goes one way and that's downwards."

He goes on to tout the Blu-ray player in the machine, and to say that this is a response to the consumers...not the competitors. That's an awfully thin hair to cut when the consumers are basically saying they want something less expensive, and there is a product on the market that's already hitting a lower price point.